Money is Unrighteous: One Parable, Five Heart Issues  

Jesus loves people. He loves all kinds of people, and in his earthly ministry Jesus seemingly loved to hang out with tax collectors and sinners. This scandalized the religious people who thought it was an outrage that Jesus would share meals with sinners. The religious people didn’t really love people, and they didn’t really even love God. They loved themselves. And they loved money. Jesus then told three parables, including the Parable of the Prodigal Son, to demonstrate God’s love for people who are lost, who God wants to be found. We usually stop right there, but Jesus goes on to tell another parable.  

In Luke 9:1-8 Jesus tells the story of a household manager who was about to be fired. In desperation, he went to the people who owed his master money and drastically reduced all their debts. Jesus then gives us the interpretation of that parable: 

⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. ¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? ¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” ¹⁴ The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.  Luke 16:9–15

From verse 9 on, it’s clear Jesus is talking about money, and how we use money. Why would he talk about money when the topic has been loving people who need God? Because there’s a connection between love and money, our hearts and money. The first point Jesus makes is the command of verse 9: 

Money and Relationship 

Luke16:9a: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves.” Money is not just about stuff for yourself. It’s interesting that the first thing Jesus says about our use of money is that it should be about relationship. You can’t buy true friendship; but you can use your resources to show me that you’re a true friend. I’m not talking about paying a friendship fee! You can take a meal to a family that is caring for a sick family member. You can buy a gift for a friend in need of encouragement. There are many ways you can use your worldly wealth to build up and care for those around you!  
 

Money and Eternity

Luke 16:9b: “…so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Your money can have eternal impact, but we need an eternal perspective. Everything in this world is passing away. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about treasure where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves cannot steal. In 1 Corinthians 7:31, Paul gives us some perspective on how to behave in connection with material blessings: “those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.” 

In other words, money is a totally unreliable foundation for our lives. It is passing away; it’s subject to decay, to loss, to theft. It not only won’t make it to heaven with us; sometimes it will not make it to retirement with us! Sometimes there’s not enough to make it to the end of the month, much less to eternity!  

As the cliche goes: “You can’t take it with you.” And, “I’ve never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul.” Jesus points to eternal dwellings. Does our relationship with stuff reflect a life headed toward heaven? We need to see money as Jesus sees money!  

Money and Idolatry  

Money isn’t a problem just because it’s unreliable, it becomes an idol! The words for “worldly wealth” in verse 9 can be translated “unrighteous mammon.” One commentary says that for Jesus, mammon is “inherently evil and dangerous.” For Jesus, there is no such thing as “righteous mammon.” Mammon, or worldly wealth, offers false hope, false security. It is untrustworthy and, unless we use it shrewdly, it WILL become an idol. We should be completely aware that it WILL compete with God for our attention. “It’s OK to have money as long as it doesn’t have you.” In fact, that is more true than we realize: unrighteous mammon WILL have you unless you are shrewd, and super intentional about using it the way Jesus describes here.  

Even after hearing this teaching from Jesus himself, the Pharisees sneered at Jesus because they loved money. Jump ahead to verses 14-15: 

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. Luke 16:14–15 (NIV)

Can Money be Used to Bless Others?

Detestable! Unrighteous mammon. We need to make sure that we aren’t highly valuing something God deems detestable, that Jesus calls unrighteous. And he is talking about money. We need it! Yes, we do. But we need to have the right heart toward it, and that means understanding God’s heart. God detests unrighteous mammon, but he loves people. So Jesus says, “If you have it, use it to gain friends, and use it to impact eternity.”  

So, make friends for yourself in eternal dwellings!!!! 

Is God a party pooper? God is giving you an opportunity to take something that has so much potential for spiritual harm and use it for your own good! All this might make it seem as though God is a big spoilsport. He’s a big party pooper, who doesn’t want what it’s in your best interest. He doesn’t want you to have anything, and doesn’t want you to enjoy yourself. That’s the way so many people see God–but thinking of God that way misses what Jesus says here.  

Money and Trust: An Appeal to Your Self-Interest 

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? Luke 16:10-12

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus appeals to your self-interest? In this parable, he doesn’t appeal to your sense of duty. He doesn’t appeal to your purpose in life. He doesn’t appeal to your deep spirituality. Jesus instructs us here to consider our own wellbeing, our eternal wellbeing.  

Isn’t interesting that Jesus talks about your use of worldly wealth in a way that benefits yourself? You can use worldly wealth to:  

• have much 
• gain true riches 
• have “property of your own.”  

The key, as we see in verses 10, 11, and 12 is the opportunity to prove trustworthiness.  

Your money gives you the opportunity to prove your faithfulness. You are not paying off God. You are proving that he can trust you.

God is looking for someone he can trust; your relationship with money lets him know. Once, while my wife and I were shopping for a time share, the salesman gave us some pointers on how to use our points in a way to break the rules. That immediately turned me off and I wouldn’t go forward with the deal. The lead salesperson said she’d never had someone get so close to signing a deal and then just dropping it. I didn’t tell her why, because it was her son who told me how to cheat. I thought: if they will cheat the company they work for, they would be willing to cheat me, too.  

If we’ll cheat others, we’ll cheat God; if we aren’t trustworthy with little, we’ll not be trustworthy with much. If we aren’t trustworthy with money, mammon, we won’t be trustworthy with true riches; if we aren’t trustworthy with what belongs to God, we won’t be given property of our own. The implication here is that what we have belongs to God. Do with it what God intends!   

What does God intend? Verse 9 is the key command in this whole passage: gain friends! Love people as Jesus loved people. But there’s one more friend to consider: God.  

Money and Love for God

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” [And now the verses we already looked at:] ¹⁴ The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.  Luke 16:13–15 (NIV)

You can’t buy a relationship with God, but you can certainly use your money in a way that pleases him. In Acts 4, we have the account of an angel visiting a gentile named Cornelius. Up to this point, the church had no clue that the gospel was not just for Jews. Why did God choose to start the Gentile mission with Cornelius? The angel tells us in Acts 10:4b: The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.” 

Cornelius, your prayers and gifts to the poor have captured God’s attention.  

“You can’t serve two masters” is a matter of hate and love (God knows the heart). I said earlier that Jesus didn’t appeal to your deep spirituality, sense of purpose, commitment to mission, or anything like that. But he does, once again, appeal to relationship, wrapping up with an appeal to your relationship with God.  

We are given a stark choice with no in-between: You can use money to love God, but you can’t use God to love money.  

Hear the rest of this message on the podcast at https://edcrenshaw.com/podcast/